The IPL 2023 auction delivered on the promise of its hype and fans are still talking about the mini-auction. Sam Curran and Cameron Green became the two most expensive players in the IPL history, while senior players Ben Stokes and Nicholas Pooran too enjoyed a hefty payday.
The lesser, but not any less important, talked about were the bowlers. Young Indian pacer Shivam Mavi was the most expensive bowler at the IPL 2023 auction, sold for 6 crore to GT, followed by another young Indian bowler, Mukesh Kumar, sold for 5.5 cr to DC. Ireland’s Josh Little, too, bagged a lucrative deal of 4.4 cr with GT.
In this article, we will rank all the franchises based on their bowling attack strength after the IPL 2023 auction:
Gujarat Titans (9.5/10)
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Darshan Nalkande, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Rashid Khan, Odean Smith
Spinners: Jayant Yadav, Noor Ahmed, R Sai Kishore
Fast bowlers: Pradeep Sangwan, Alzarri Joseph, Mohammed Shami, Yash Dayal, Shivam Mavi, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma
The fact that GT didn’t mind trading away Lockie Ferguson to KKR tells you that their bowling was already sorted from last season. They have all three main kinds of spinners – two leg-spinner, an off-spinner, a left-arm spinner – and now in Noor Ahmed a chinaman too.
They have added Mavi and Little to their bowling to get swing bowlers. Little was terrific in the death overs in T20 WC, and hence, GT splurged out on him. Shami, Joseph, Dayal are fast, hit-the-deck pacer ; Dayal and Little are left-arm seamers. Their bowling attack seems as complete as a bowling attack could be.
Lucknow Super Giants (9/10)
All-rounders: Karan Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, K Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, Daniel Sams, Romario Shepherd, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh
Spinners: Ravi Bishnoi, Amit Mishra
Fast bowlers: Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Yash Thakur, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yudhvir Charak
2 off-spinners, 1 left-arm spinner, 2 leg-spinners, 4 seam-bowling all-rounders, 2 right-arm proper fast bowlers, 2 left-arm pacers. Lucknow couldn’t be waiting more eagerly to showcase their bowling depth in bowling attack in IPL 2023. Do they lack anything in the bowling department? Maybe a pacer known for his death-overs faculties.
Sunrisers Hyderabad (9/10)
All-rounders: Washington Sundar, Vivrant Sharma, Sanvir Singh, Samarth Vyas, Mayank Dagar
Spinners: Adil Rashid, Mayank Markande, Akeal Hosein
Fast bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Kartik Tyagi, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Fazalhaq Farooqi
As usual, SRH have a strong Indian bowling core, and also they have a good mix of youth and experience. SRH finally have decent replacements of leg-spinner Rashid Khan in Adil Rashid. Akeal Hosein, who can take wickets with the new ball, is an impressive addition.
They will only now have to hope for Bhuvneshwar and Natarajan’s fitness. SRH may not have any big names in the bowling department, but they have one of the most well-rounded and complete bowling attack.
Chennai Super Kings (9/10)
- All-rounders: Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Ajay Mandal, Nishant Sindhu, Bhagath Varma
- Spinners: Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana
- Fast bowlers: Tushar Deshpande, Mukesh Choudhary, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Kyle Jamieson
CSK have several all-rounders (both pace and spin ones) which will give Dhoni plenty of bowling options and also add batting depth. With the addition of Stokes and Jamieson, and the return of Chahar, CSK have a solid bowling attack.
However, the best death bowler in their squad is Pretorious who might not even get into CSK’s XI with Conway, Stokes, Moeen and Theekshana the likely 4 overseas. CSK will have to find a way to get in Pretorious in the side. With this complete bowling attack, CSK fans can hope that the team will once again enter the playoffs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (8.5/10)
Allrounders: Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mahipal Lomror, Wanindu Hasaranga, Will Jacks, Manoj Bhandage, Sonu Yadav
Spinners: Karn Sharma, Himanshu Sharma
Fast bowlers: Harshal Patel, David Willey, Mohammed Siraj, Josh Hazlewood, Siddarth Kaul, Akash Deep, Reece Topley, Rajan Kumar, Avinash Singh
RCB have only strengthened their pace attack with Reece Topley, a backup for Hazlewood and Willey. RCB rely heavily on their spin-allrounders in Maxwell and Hasaranga. Off-spinning all-roudner Will Jacks is the backup for the injured Maxwell.
They have spinners who turn the ball either side; pacers who can make use of the new ball movement, and death-overs specialist Harshal. Maybe they lack another proper death-overs seamer, and should have gone after someone like Little or Richardson instead of Topley.
Punjab Kings (8.5/10)
All-rounders: Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Singh
Spinners: Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Mohit Rathee
Fast bowlers: Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Vidwath Kaverappa
PBKS have made a big bet on Sam Curran to reproduce and sustain his death overs form from the T20 WC, where 10 of his 13 total wickets came in the death overs. They have Livinstone/Raza are the off-spinners to complete the set with Chahar and Harpreet.
The pace department seems good at the moment, but if Rabada and Curran falter, PBKS are in for another disastrous season.
Mumbai Indians (7.5/10)
All-rounders: Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Hritik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Duan Jansen
Spinners: Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goyal
Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal
MI will be praying for the fitness of Archer and Bumrah. They have also made amends in the pace category by trading in Behrendorff and buying Richardson. Though buying the out of touch Piyush Chawla might not be the good choice, but the leg-spinner brings in vast experience. They will also want their young spinners Kartikeya and Shokeen to do better this time having learnt from their debut season.
Green and Arjun are two young pace-bowling all-rounders in the squad.
MI’s Pace department is excellent, maybe even the best in the tournament. But their spin department-not satisfactory.
Rajasthan Royals (7/10)
All-rounders: Jason Holder, Akash Vashisht, Abdul Basith,
Spinners: Yuzvendra Chahal, R Ashwin, Adam Zampa, KC Cariappa, M Ashwin
Fast bowlers: Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, Obed McCoy, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, KM Asif
Adding Jason Holder to the squad will bring the balance RR craved last season. Holder can bowl with the new ball, to partner Boult, and in the death, to partner Krishna and McCoy. Kuldeep Sen and Krishna are the hit-the-deck pacers. Zampa might not play alongside Chahal, but adding M Ashwin seem surplus.
Nonetheless, they did well last season to reach the final, and this is a decent-looking bowling attack, but onus will once again be on Boult to strike early.
Kolkata Knight Riders (6.5/10)
Allrounders: Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, David Wiese, Shakib Al Hasan
Spinners: Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma
Fast bowlers: Shardul Thakur, Lockie Ferguson, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Umesh Yadav, Vaibhav Arora, Kulwant Khejroliya
KKR’s campaign will once again heavily depend on the fitness of Russell and Narine and whether Chakravarthy’s mystery spin is effective anymore. They have traded in Shardul and Lockie. Wiese and Shakib are good all-round acquisitions, but currently only look backups.
They are light in the spin department with no quality/experienced leg-spinner and left-arm orthodox, and also will once again be found wanting in the death overs.
Delhi Capitals (6/10)
All-rounders: Ripal Patel, Rovman Powell, Mitchell Marsh, Lalit Yadav, Axar Patel, Aman Khan, Vicky Ostwal
Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav, Praveen Dubey
Fast bowlers: Anrich Nortje, Chetan Sakariya, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Khaleel Ahmed, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar
Delhi Capitals for some reason have assembled a spate of pacers, including buying Mukesh Kumar. Buying Ishant, after already trading in Aman Khan from KKR, doesn’t speak logic to me. They have all sorts of pacers, but don’t have a quality or experienced leg-spinner with Praveen Dubey not even a first XI player.
Kuldeep remains prone of leaking runs, while DC’s off-spinner once again will be Lalit Yadav! (I’m deducting 3 points just for this; it’s baffling that DC will go into another IPL season with Lalit as their best off-spin option.)
